he ran away and hid himself inside a clock.

Quick, hide
inside the clock.
Two fingers
coil around
cog stops
time still.

The room stills.
You hide
behind stopped
time, the clock’s
face like your own—round
and flat, it falls into your fingers.

Index and third fingers
bend, straighten, still.
Your body twists around
to see the other side, hands hide
your face—the clock’s.
You cannot stop

this moment of stopped
time –coiled fingers
disintegrate clocks.
Seconds slip still:
midnight’s round
edges hide

inside your hidebound
skin. You have not stopped
counting the next round
of seconds, minutes, and fingers
that will not stay still.
Keep clocking

the instant. At thirteen o’clock
your shadow hides
inside a stilled
cog, stopped
by your fingertips
red and round.

Two round
faces: the clock
filled with too many fingers
on too many hands that hide
the hours, minutes and seconds stopped
lulled into stillness.

The stilled round-faced clock
Spreads your fingers, hides inside your skin. You stop.